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Subponica: Episode 16; Emperor
By Terrarian Pony WARNING: Content of this story may include violence, gore, romance, same gender romance, ponies, references to several video games, and possibly PINKIE PIE! If anypony is offended by any of the content listed above, than please turn back now. You have been warned. Previously Next Story: Terrarian Pony presents... Subponica Episode 16 Emperor ... All the prisoners were set free as a distraction. Sapphire thought it would be dangerous getting past them, but they all had the same goal as her and her friends.Rebellious law ponies had painted their helmets with a blue stripe to distinguish themselves from the ones who only live to follow orders. Ruby and Emerald saw the rest of the group, and was relieved. Sapphire took one look at her, and smiled. Ruby trotted right into her hooves, eyes full of tears. Ruby:" I'm so glad you guys are okay!" Sapphire:" I'm so glad you and Emmy are sa- WHAT IS HE DOING HERE!?" She pointed a hoof at Argyle, who stood there with a sly smirk. Zena pounced on top of him with all her force and might, then began to stretch one of his forelegs farther than anypony should. He screamed in pain. Zena:" You sick, son of a mule! You blinded my husband, and you have the nerve to show your face again!?" Argyle:" Ow! Stop!" Ruby:" Zena stop! Let him go." Zena:" But he-" Ruby:" He killed Show Buster. I know. Nopony is knows better than you and me. But for all the wrong he's done... he's the only way off this planet." Sapphire:" Off the planet? But we just got back on! Equestria is our home. Do you really want to abandon it?" Ruby:" It was our home. As much as I want to stay here, where all my foalhood memories lie, I can't deny the fact that Equestria, as we knew it, is a lost cause." Show:" Love, it's okay. Remember, I'm still alive, and I still love you." Zena blushed, and then let go of Argyle's leg. Zena:" Fine, but I will not be happy about it." Zena walked close her stallion, taking a protective stance and eyeing Argyle in ase he tries to finish the job. Ruby:" Sapphire, you know I'm right." Sapphire sighed. Sapphire:" Yeah... I know. But I was really hoping Emmy and Jason would be able to grow up here... live normal lives, and maybe someday find their special someponies..." Ruby:" It's okay. I wanted that, too. But even if we could let them grow up here, they may have not even been accepted on this planet. But it's all up to you." She pointed to the entire group next to them. Ruby:" You have a whole group of ponies who are willing to follow you to the end of the universe, not because they have to, but because you're their leader, and they want to." Sapphire:" Where are we even supposed to go?" Simon:" Theoretically, heading back to 4546B doesn't sound like a bad idea. Maybe not the same area, as it got sort of dull after four years, but there are probably other habitable areas on the planet." Sapphire:" Alright. You've convinced me. Anypony else on board?" Everypony nodded at the same time, without hesitation. Sapphire:" Okay. But first, there is something else we have to do." Ruby:" What's that?" Sapphire:" We need to go to Canterlot." ... Everypony was astonished, surprised, scared, and relieved all at once. They all had all just heard a strange voice, as if that was normal. It was even heard from the third cyclops. Sea Emperor:" Finally, at long last... you are all here. You are so close... yet, so far from home. Hurry, I fear many of you are running out of time." Everypony couldn't help but to stare. Soless:" Did... anypony else just..." Simon:" Creepy, yet soothing." Clover:" Guys! Something is seriously wrong with Jenny! She's breathing heavy and coughing blood!" ... Jenny had a splash of blood near her face, where she was laying down. Ruby looked at her, with teary eyes, and then back at Sapphire and the others. Ruby:" I... I can't... I don't know what to do!" Jenny:" Guys... I'm so sorry." Sapphire:" You have nothing to be sorry for... we've already forgiven you." Jenny:" I know... but I've done such horrible things to other survivors when I ran with Pound and his gang. Maybe you can forgive me, but I can't. Maybe this is my punishment..." Ruby:" DON'T SAY THAT! YOU SAVED MY LIFE BEFORE! YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS!!!" Ruby was sobbing now, feeling more useless than ever. She knew couldn't save Jenny, but she didn't want to lose a friend that had become so dear to her when she really needed it. Jenny:" Ruby... I want you to know I thought of you as a friend. I'm so glad you feel the same." Ruby picked her up and held her close. Ruby:" Then live, just live... please! I can't lose a crewmate! I can't! I don't want to lose the pony who stood near me when I first found we were all sick!" Jenny didn't say anything, but she was limp in Ruby's hooves. Ruby set her down, and tried to stop her crying. Sapphire comforted her. Sapphire:" We'll make sure she is remembered for her sacrifice. And even if nopony else does remember, we will." Ruby:" Y-yeah..." ... Jenny's body was put into a fabricated locker, and they watched from their Submarines as it floated towards the lava. Ruby couldn't bear to watch her get burned, and neither could Sapphire. They sat together, hugging each other close, while mourning the loss of already a fellow members of their team. Suddenly, Simon's voice came from Sapphire's PDA. Simon:" Captain... um, we're ready to continue forward. Do you both... um, need a minute?" Sapphire sniffed, then regained composure. Sapphire:" No. We don't have any longer. Turn all subs to silent running, and split up so that Sea Dragon doesn't catch us all. The rest of can abandon ship if we have to, but your cyclops has all our materials we need, so don't get caught. Everypony else, make sure to get to their exit hatches, just in case you need abort your cyclops. Simon:" Understood." SImon's cyclops strayed right, sticking close to the walls as possible, Soless's cyclops stayed near the left walls. Sapphire drove straight through the middle of the open cavern, while the sea dragon wasn't looking. Lava was falling from the ceiling, and the lava larva were sucking vigorously on the cyclops's energy. Sapphire wanted to turn on the cyclops shield, but it was still recharging. She was almost there. Just a few seconds away... CRASH!!! A rumble came through the cyclops, and a huge webbed claw came over the glass. It was attacking from above. The dragon spit a plume of flames, and the cyclops's systems instantly began to fail. The fire supression system was recharging as well. The dragon's webbed claws were crushing the cyclops. Sapphire jumped in the prawn suit, Emerald following. As the prawn suit descended from the cyclops vehicle chamber, Sapphire saw her friends swimming desperately away from the sea dragon. The sea dragon was getting ready to make another burst. Sapphire wasn't going to let it happen on her friends though. With a quick leap, nearly forgetting that Emerald was in the chasis with her, she jumped in between her friends, and the dragon. Sapphire:" Emmy, brace yourself!" Emerald hugged Sapphire, waiting for the heating blow, but it never came. Instead, the dragon held it's head as if in pain, letting go of the damaged cyclops. The dragon looped, and swam the other way. Sapphire:" What in the world? Emmy..." Emerald:" I didn't do it this time! I think it was the Emperor lady. She must have used a psychic scream like I did. I hope her head doesn't hurt like mine did." ... Ruby:" How do you know this weapon is in Canterlot?" Sapphire, Ruby, Emmy, Jason, and Night Owl have already begun towards Canterlot. They were three fourths of the way there, and have come across quite a few undesirables. The rest of the crew, including Simon and Argyle, went off to prepare the rocket they came on, to lift off again. Meanwhile, Sapphire had asked Simon to grab any remaining documents and data he could from the Alterra mainframe, including classified information about precursors. Night Owl:" Better question... how do you know about such a weapon at all? It was kept secret after it has been discovered, and the alicorn sisters have been guarding it for a very long time." Sapphire:" When I freed that warper we kept prisoner, he told me what it did, and where to find it. It was as if the weapon's existence frightened it, somehow, despite warpers being mindless drones." Ruby:" Why wasn't it destroyed?" Night Owl:" It couldn't be. Celestia and Luna tried, but it was protected by some sort of magical field that neither Celestia, nor Luna could combat. It does however, radiate psychic energy." Ruby:" How can a weapon be psychic?" Night Owl:" I don't know. But from what I've learned, it lures others into using it for terrible deeds. Maybe that's how Grimshield learned of it." Sapphire:" You know, out of all the stuff we've been through on planet 4546B, that sounds the least absurd somehow." ... Everypony found their way into an entrance into the primary containment facility, which like the thermal plant, was protected by a barrier, keeping the water and the heat from getting in. Simon and Soless parked their cyclopses on either side of the facility, keeping them concealed in case they needed to go back for resources. Here, they found another green barrier. The console beside it demanded a blue tablet. Sapphire had a blue tablet. She inserted the tablet into the console, and the barrier went down. As the went through the giant doorway, a bunch of lights lit the hallway in from of them, two-by-two. As they walked up a uphill slope hallway, they gazed around expectantly, as if hoping aliens would pounce up and do a little show for them. But nothing happened. When they got to the top of the slope, they saw on either side, containers filled with artifacts, and right in front of them, a rising platform that held up an ore vein of merged ion cubes. Behind them, there were two slopes going up to another level of the facility, behind the ion cube platform was yet... another doorway, protected by another barrier, protected by another console, which required another blue tablet. A blue tablet that Sapphire, nor anypony else had. Sapphire:" Jesse, what do we need to fabricate a blue tablet?" Jesse:" Blue tablet requires: one ion cube, and two kyanite." Sapphire:" Looks like I'm heading back into the lava infested water." Emerald:" No way! I wanna go!" Sapphire:" Emmy, we don't have time for this. I'm going to take the prawn suit, and I'll be right back." Emerald:" I don't want you to go alone anymore! I wanna come with you!" Ruby:" Emmy... Sapphire's right. That sea dragon wants to destroy everything it sees, and the prawn suit only needs one pony to operate it." Emerald:" But mommy's going into danger alone again, and I don't like when she does that!" Night Owl:" I'll go." Sapphire:" Are you sure?" Night Owl:" Don't worry. I can handle a sea dragon. Besides, you still have a little filly to take care of." Emerald:" I still think it's not fair. What if something happens to her?" Night Owl:" Relax kid, I'll be fine. I've seen dragons twice the size of that thing." Emerald sighed, and crossed her forelegs, turning her head away Emerald:" Fine." Sapphire:" I promise, when all this is over, you and I can swim the ocean as much as you want." Emerald gave a half-hearted smile to that. Sapphire:" In the meantime, we should explore our surroundings." Brine:" Ow! This robot spider thing bit me! Ow!" Brine burst meddling around with one of the alien robots, and eventually ran away from it, avoiding it entirely. Terrarian chuckled quietly. Night Owl passed by Soless and Wendy. Night Owl:" Hey, sorry about almost killing your friend." Soless:" You should be apologizing to her." Wendy:" We're cool. I probably deserved it anyways, on account of... well, we'll keep that a secret." ... Sapphire and the others went up to the higher level of the facility, and found two paths. Going through the left one first, they saw some sort of incubation lab. Creature eggs were lined up in large containers everywhere. One of the eggs was as big as the sea dragon egg, but slightly different in shape, and it seemed to have hatched. But Simon and Ruby noticed something odd. Simon:" This egg doesn't seem to have been hatched regularly." Ruby:" You noticed it, too?" Sapphire:" What're you guys talking about?" Ruby:" This egg seems to have been cut open with some sort of... precision laser." Sapphire looked around the room. She didn't see anything that would be capable of doing such a thing, but she did see... Sapphire:" Look, over there!" They followed her over to a container that contained... some sort of carcass. Not only that, but it looked as though it was very young when it died. Ruby and Brine both looked horrified. The deceased creature looked nearly identical to a sea dragon, except it's skin and armored scales were a much brighter color, and the tentacles were lined with green bioluminescent bulbs. The face was much different, similar to that of a hammerhead shark. It had four green eyes, and two antennae with little green bulbs at the end. Sapphire then remembered what their warper prisoner said to her. Warper:"' The Precursors tried to force the hatching of the Emperor's offspring. The subject did not last long. The cure could not be extracted from a dead specimen."'' It wasn't right, she thought. Nothing deserved to be born, than be tortured for a short amount of time, and then just die. Sapphire:" This is one of the Emperor's offspring. It was forced from it's egg before it was time, and they caused it so much pain, just for it to die shortly after it was born, because these mules were too impatient to allow it time. And it ended up to be for nothing. I know they were desperate, but it was their fault in the first place for creating the virus. Not these poor creature's." Simon:" Even my younger, more ambitious self would have agreed that this is crossing boundaries that weren't meant to be crossed." Sapphire:" Well that's what these precursors do apparently. They created these worlds, these creatures, and they think it's okay to just do what they want with them." ... Going back, and going through the other path, they wound up in a hallway filled with large, clear tubes. Peepers seemed to pass through them from time to time. Simon:" These peepers seem very facsinated with these pipes." Sapphire:" That is unless it's another precursor experiment." Ruby:" No, they don't seem to be showing signs of distress. Look at the way the follow the tube's flow intently. They look as if they have a reason for being inside these tubes." Emerald:" Look at that one!" They looked towards another tube, which seemed similar, but the peepers were different. The peepers in these tubes left a glowing enzyme behind them. Sapphire:" I get it... for whatever reason, these peepers seem to go in through these tubes to extract some sort of enzyme, most likely enzyme 42! Then when they come out through these other tubes, they leave behind the enzyme! That's why the animals on this planet are still alive! Most likey the reason why we are still alive!" Clover:" But then why did Pound only take three hours to get all green spotty and stuff?" Ruby:" Maybe there was a certain component involved. He might have been immune to the peepers' vaccine. But then... how come only some of us still got spots before the others?" Soless:" Perhaps... and this is just a hypothesis, but perhaps the peepers' vaccine only influences our bodies only to a certain point, and the virus eventually takes over at a certain time depending on our immune system." Ruby:" That is quite plausible." Night Owl:" Guys! Come back here, I got the tablet." Sapphire:" Understood. We're coming back now." ... Night Owl walked up to the console, and placed the tablet in. Everypony watched as the barrier turned off, revealing a short hallway. Sapphire's hooves were trembling, as she took the first step forward into the hallway. She was expecting something ominous to jump out at her. But nothing did. Instead, when they all reached the next room, it was large square room, with two slopes going down to a lower level, which in between the two levels was an entire moonpool. Sapphire stared into the water. It was clean. It was so clean, she could see her reflection from up here. She couldn't wait to find out what... Ruby:" Oof!" Ruby collapsed to the ground, her body feeling weak, and helpless. She began to cough violently. Emerald immediately felt tears. Emerald:" MOMMA!" The little filly raced to the mare's side. Sapphire joined her. Emerald:" Momma, please! Just a little bit further!" Sapphire:" Ruby..." Ruby coughed a few more times. Ruby:" I-I don't if... if I can make it." Sapphire:" No... no! You have to! For my sake, for Emmy's sake!" Ruby:" Using my own words against me. That's so you, Sapphire." Sapphire:" Stop joking. We're... we're going to save you!" Terrarian:" We'll stay with her. Sapphire, Emerald... you go see what's down there." Sapphire looked up at her crew. She didn't want to leave Ruby's side, but what else could she do? They were dependant on her. Sapphire got to her hooves, and walked towards the ledge of the moonpool, inhaled deeply, and dove. ... Canterlot Castle. Once a place full of beauty, and essence, now crumbling to the ground, slowly. They all looked at the castle with mixed feelings, and began to step through the large doors until... ???:" ''WHO DARES ENTER OUR CASTLE!? LEAVE AT ONCE, OR FACE A TERRIBLE PUNISHMENT!"'' Night Owl:" That sounded like... Princess Luna. Well, more like Nightmare Moon..." Nightmare Moon:" ''YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! LEAVE THIS PLACE, OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!"'' Sapphire stepped forward. Sapphire:" I'm here for the precursor weapon!" And with those words, a puff of smoke formed in the center of the room, and from it, emerged the scowling image of Nightmare Moon herself. Nightmare Moon:" ''SO! YOU WISH TO TOIL WITH THAT WHICH IS NOT YOURS? MEDDLING IN MATTERS OF WHICH YOU HAVE NO UNDERSTANDING!? HOW FOOLISH!"' Sapphire:" I'm here to destroy the weapon! And not you, nor anypony is going to stop me from doing just that! Besides, Nightmare Moon doesn't scare me! So stop with the illusion, and face me like a pony!" Suddenly, the form of Nightmare Moon shimmered, and the dark colors began to brighten slightly, turning from very dark blue, to a more beautiful shade of dark blue. The Nightmare Moon armor faded from vision, and everypony was now staring at Princess Luna. That "royal Canterlot voice" turned to something calmer, but still suspicious. Luna:" How do we know that you do not intend to attempt to operate it yourself?" Night Owl ran in front of everypony else, who only stared in shock, and she bowed in front of the princess. Night Owl:" Your majesty! Forgive my delay! I have news to report!" Luna:" Night Owl? My goodnes... it's been four years. I was afraid the worst had happened to you as well." Luna looked around at the ponies Night Owl came in with. Luna:" Friends?" Night Owl:" Y-yes, princess. We were captured by the law ponies upon our return, and they didn't believe me when I said I was one of your top agents." Luna:" I see. So you are the famous Aurora crew?" Sapphire:" Yes, your majesty, though I am afraid most of the crew... didn't survive." Luna:" I see." Night Owl:" You're majesty... the mission..." Luna:" Is irrelevant. I'm afraid it doesn't matter anymore. I am very sorry to have put you on such a dangerous task." Sapphire:" What about the weapon? We need to destroy it before Corporal Grimshield can find it's location." Luna sighed. Luna:" I'm afraid it cannot be destroyed. You're effort to get here was unnecessary." Sapphire:" But there has to be a way. We can't let Grimshield have it!" Luna:" Please. This is the reason for all this destruction in the first place. An enemy planet, known as Corcruss came looking for the weapon. I don't know how they found it, but they attacked us with great force. Twilight and her friends tried to use the elements of harmony again, but they didn't work, and so we had to rely on the law ponies to push them back. But their corporal, he was only interested in finding the weapon. He thought it could be used to drive back the Corcans. But me and my sister knew better. This battle would have been won without this much chaos had he not killed my sister." Sapphire:" Grimshield killed... Princess Celestia?" Luna:" Yes, and all to bring more chaos so he could have an excuse to gain access to such unlimited power. It was all he wanted. But he made a grave mistake sacrifing my dear sister. He thought I wouldn't notice, but I am not an idiot." Night Owl:" P-princess... I'm so sorry." Luna looked down at her hooves, tears dripping from a face of shame. Emerald and Jason stepped forward. Emerald:" Princess Luna? We're sorry to interrupt, but... isn't this weapon you protect... psychic?" Luna:" May I inquire how you gained this knowledge?" Night Owl froze in place, looking away from the princess, her wings kept flat on her sides. Sapphire:" We heard it from a certain creation of the precursors when we were on planet 4546B." Jason:" Me and Emmy are psychic. Maybe we can destroy the weapon." Luna:" Perhaps." Sapphire:" Wait! That might be a bad idea! That weapon could cause harm to you both, especially since you are psychic!" Emerald looked into her eyes determinedly, and so had Jason. Sapphire then realized that there was no arguing her way out of this. Sapphire:" Princess... if you would be so kind, we would like to see this weapon for ourselves. We have a chance to do what couldn't be done long ago." Luna sighed. Luna:" Very well. Come, I will take you." ... Sapphire felt the sensation of cold water hitting her face. Ever since she entered the lava caves, this is all she wanted to feel. But now wasn't the time for that. They were swimming over top of a large cube hanging from the ceiling. Suddenly, Sapphire and Emerald felt ripples in the water. A giant claw arm came up, and grabbed the edge of the cube, then a face appeared in front of them. The Sea Emperor. Sea Emperor: (We meet at last. One face, to another. What will this meeting bring, I wander.) TO BE CONTINUED... Category:Content (Terrarian Pony) Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfiction (Fanon) Category:Genre (Crossover) Category:Fanfiction (Series)